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Ruckus, having come to recognize your SN on the C's forum, do you think the Bo-Sox would go for a move like that?

Oddly enough, it's my best guess that the "Deal breaker" for both clubs would reside on their projections of Clay's long term health on each side of the aisle.

This seems like a remarkably fair and well thought out trade proposal to me, personally.

Nice to hear from you again...hope you're doing well, buddy.

I don't mean to disagree but in no way should we deal both Span and Revere... especially in the same deal. Don't get me wrong, Clay can be very good but it would have to be Span, Escobar, Morneau if I were to consider it.

Harben hasn't pitched since 2009, so I doubt if he'd be in anyone's plans for next season.
As far as Hicks, I see him playing CF. He is fast, has a great arm and good instincts. He takes good routes to the ball in the gaps. If Revere had his arm, he'd be an all star every year. In the long-run, however, Buxton is the guy the Twins want in center. He is at least 3 years away from the bigs, though. When Buxton arrives, Hicks slides over to right and Revere, Arcia, Benson play in left.
Pitching, especially starters, is what the Twins need to concentrate on. They had open auditions for the bullpen last off-season and did pretty well with Burton and Fien, both of whom I see in the "short-reliever" roles next season. The pen is pretty well settled for now, barring injuries. Perk gets the 9th, Burton the 8th, and Burnett the 7th. Fien gets an inning when the other guys need a day off. Duensing and Swarzak will be the "long-guys", able to go 2-3 innings at a time and Robertson will be the "match-up" lefty.

I don't think I'm too interested in Buchholz after looking at his salary breakdown. He makes a reasonable 5.5M in 2013 which then goes to 7.7M in 2014. That's probably high for a pitcher of his caliber but not the end of the world. The problem is what happens after that. In 2015 he'll get paid 12M which seems much too high for a middle of the rotation at best arm but the Twins would be stuck with the bill regardless. That would be the end of the road for Mr. Buchholz because after that he has two option years for 13M and 13.5M respectively with a 750k combined buyout.

Perhaps someday he'll reach the potential people thought he had, but his decreasing K/9 rate along with his increasing WHIP and ERA tells me the opposite is more likely. Three more guaranteed years after three years of decreased effectiveness probably would scare away the Twins front office.